Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Never
speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would
to your own father. Talk to younger men
as you would to your own brothers. Treat older women as
you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would
your own sisters. Take care
of any widow who has no one else to care for her. But
if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show
godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God. Now a true widow, a woman who is truly
alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his
help. But the widow who lives only for pleasure is
spiritually dead even while she lives. Give these
instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism. But those who won’t care for their
relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true
faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers. 1 Timothy 5:1-8
You cannot
understate the importance of this passage.
Paul, the elder statesman of the fledgling Christian church, is passing
along advice to a young pastor, his protégé, Timothy. Paul is not simply handing Timothy a
twelve-pound book of rules, but gives him life principles of attitudes and
actions that apply at any age to the formation of Christian lives:
· Speaking to others with respect and
care
· Respect for women
· Helping the helpless
· Caring for aging family members
These life
principles are so important in everyday living because they develop character
and an attitude that strengthen any family towards Godliness, which leads to stronger,
more Godly communities, that which is pleasing to God.
In our current
culture, homelessness, divorce, domestic violence, and the abuse of children
are not isolated numbers on a chart of trends; more they are the sad tell-tale
spots of the spiritual illness that has rotted the strength of attitude and
resolve to be Godly people. We have managed
to promote personal happiness as a cultural right so vigorously, Godliness has
been disappearing in the rearview mirror.
To
illustrate that this is so, one need only point to the disarray of relationship
our culture exhibits to God’s chief blessing for strength in the home – His church.
Say what you like about the demise of
the importance of church in the 21st century, I lay blame at the
feet of selfish desire to have personal fulfillment, rather than Godly
wholeness. Godly worship has changed from
the obvious to the optional.
Certainly,
the abuses of clergy, ebb-and-flow of cultural preferences in worship styles,
and other sad distractions do factor-in when it comes to the dismantling of institutions
– including the church. However, the
real loser is the family. The church has
become the new widow, a directionless, homeless bride, slipping through the
cracks of this culture’s quest for a supposed better life.
Without the church, families will become just another option,
not
God’s primary gift of strength for all human existence.
For You Today
In another
post, last year[1] I
wrote: It has been said that evangelism
is one beggar telling another where he has found bread. For the
helpless, homeless, and hopeless among us, they must never become them or those
people; WE must be one widow, orphan, or stranger showing
another where there is kindness.
You chew on that as
you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title and Other Images: Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[1] See post from January 31, 2020, Widows, Orphans, & Strangers
